Castle Domes have been on my list of places to visit for quite a while. Per Secor and the AAJ the only recorded climb in the area was done in the late 1970s by Jack Roberts and Mark Menge – Silmarillion. Recently I resumed my research and the only semi-useful thing I found, was a thread I started in 2011 (http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/1753585/Castle-Domes-Kings-Canon-info);. Good looking rock, high adventure factor and a giant approach – time to have some fun!

Castle Dome as seen from our camp. Thank god I was able to sell this garbage tent.

Credit: Vitaliy M.

Inverted white dike high on the aręte - a wild feature!!

"Climb me, climb me!" -North Face of Clarence King?

The approach was pretty

Caitlin about to pass one of the many fun roofs on the route

My friend Caitlin had a 3-day weekend and was game to haul 50 lb backpacks up a 13+ mile approach. Great thing about it was that it follows a section of Rae Lakes Loop, which is one of the finest hikes in the High Sierra. After a reasonable day of hiking, we set up a camp in a lush meadow with a jaw-dropping view of Castle Domes. The line that made the most sense was a striking aręte that went from the base to the summit of the most prominent formation. In addition, the research did not turn out any record of someone doing it prior. Even if someone did, the first ascent experience is hard to beat!

The Sphinx. Daniel and I put up a LONG route up that thing about a month ago. Another Kings Canyon gem.

Waterfall on the approach

The notorious Kings Canyon spotted skunk

Credit: Vitaliy M.

Bambi lives in Kings Canyon!

Out of focus, but still pretty

We woke up early and approached the climb by threading the wall under the slabby buttresses and striking overhangs. There seemed to be a possibility to climb a few three pitch 5.12+ routes, but I don’t climb that hard and wanted to get on the line that made the most sense. SE Aręte was without a doubt it.

At first, I scrambled to the summit of a sub peak across from the aręte and scoped out a line. The lack of visible crack systems and multiple roofs did not inspire confidence. However, we did not make the long haul to give up without a battle. After a few spicy moves a ways above my gear, I climbed up into the main dihedral and we enjoyed quality climbing for seven long pitches. Quality of rock was incredible. It was like someone mixed dark gray granite from El Capitan’s East Buttress with featured slab of Charlotte Dome and than added a bit of High Sierra crack climbing. A geologist with interest for petrology would have a blast on this one! Every pitch had an interesting crux, usually an overhang with ‘thank god’ jugs around the corner and a cool feature or two. At one point I came across a giant inverted dike that traversed across the rock as far as I could see. Castle Domes and other granite formations in the area had more than a few of these features.

Caitlin enjoying the view of Castle Domes from our camp

Silmarillion goes up one of these dihedrals. One on the left looked MEH, one on the right had giant loose-looking roofs blocking the upper section. If I collect a lot of booty and get bored, one day I might be back to climb them.

Starting pitch two (photo by Caitlin T.)

Upper section of SE Aręte, as seen from another peak

Caitlin following the 3rd pitch - a fun one!

Views were drop dead gorgeous all day. No wonder Rae Lakes Loop is one of the most popular treks in the country.

A few pitches from the top we received some light rain. At this point climbing up would be much easier than bailing down, so we kept moving. A cool chimney, short hand-crack, another overhang and a pitch of low 5th, took us directly to the summit! With approximately 1,100 feet of technical climbing behind us, our reward was a bit of sunshine, snacks and the view of Gardnier Basin. Turns out Mt. Clarence King has a stunning North Face, but approaching it would take two days at least!

Starting the third pitch. About to climb up towards the roof.

Starting the first pitch. Climbing on the arete packed some spice!

Starting up a cool crack with a lot of face features all around

More cracks

Caitlin climbing over the last bulge

The summit had no signs of previous passage, even though I have no doubt people have been there before. We made a cairn, snapped some photos and headed down to our camp. My celebratory meal of ramen mixed with beef jerky was enhanced by green onions, which were growing next to our tent. We drank plenty of fluids and Caitlin passed out. I had too much excitement and emotions about the climb we just did and had a mostly restless night. Too bad, since the next day started out with a bang – wind, lightning, thunder and a downpour chased us out of the valley and back to our car.

Mr. Mature

Couple of gym climbers enjoying the summit

The camp was in an amazing spot. Really hard to beat.

Bailing from Castle Valley during the Sunday's thunderstorm.

Some little dome with plenty of cracks to choose from!

During our return we saw many more potential destinations for future exploration. Even though the golden age of picking the obvious gems in the High Sierra have faded, the opportunity to get creative and explore will exist for many years to come!

In 1991, my wife an I climbed a dome that I think was to the right(east?) of the dark gray dome that is seen in your overall view of the domes. It was as much as we wanted to try on that particular day. It was mostly a romp, but there was a couple of short sections that were a little harder. I remember a nice straight in hand crack in one section that was 5.9ish, and one section of runout face that was easy .10. It was nice solid rock and a fantastic vantage point in what seemed to be a sea of domes. I think there was a cairn on top, but it was an easy walk off the back side, and down the gully between it and the dark grey dome. There was an old bighorn sheep horn high in the gully. After getting back to camp, and looking back at the many domes in that area, we were at a loss to describe even what dome it was, much less the climb. I remember that the dome was more pitches than I thought it would be. There was a couple hundred feet of 3rd classing at the top as well.

We were not carrying a bolt kit on this outing. Were you climbing with a bolt kit on your arete? A bold endeavor if you were not. You would make Reinhold proud!

Guyman, GOD has been on my list for quite a while. If you open the thread I linked in the beginning of the report, there is a mention of GOD there too. That was back in 2011 when I was leading 5.8. It was funny, Ksolem wanted to get out there, and after I told him 5.9 would be my limit, never heard back from him again : (
Is GOD cool because there is a lot of unclimbed stuff there, or because it is so remote and the granite is awesome? I really want to make it out there, but I think I’d go there for 5 days minimum, or maybe 4. It would probably take a day to hike in and out, so I would like to get at least 2 days of climbing if I am going there. I have a 4 day weekend coming up 2nd week of April and been playing around with ideas. Would be great to check out a new area. How is the water situation there late summer?

two-shoes, did you by any chance take a photo of the other domes from the summit? That area is incredible, and I would love to see a view from the other side. I looked at the formations across, and it seemed like a complicated ridge line. Was not sure how easy it would be to get up and down if you take it all the way. Lots of little towers etc. A LOT of adventure out there.
There was a runout section right at the start of the route. We had a kit, but I did not have a stance to drill, could not downclimb and had to commit to some interesting stemming. Raises your heart rate quite a bit when you are 15 miles from the trailhead, 15-20 ft above your last piece (at least it was a green alien! My favorite cam!) and need to do an insecure move (maybe 5.9 or 10-, or maybe a 5.7 if I was on top rope lol). In any case it was an amazing climb. I enjoyed it more than the Red Dihedral, and that one gets like 4 stars in the Supertopo book! Some incredible face climbing, jugs and scenery. People should go do this one. There is always just enough protection to keep it reasonably safe, so I placed no bolts and pounded no pitons.

While the approach to Castle Domes is long, it's all on such a beautiful and well-maintained trail that the hike in does not feel at all arduous. If you pack light, it's just a fun bonus backpacking jaunt to add to your climbing trip. Other people should get out there: adventure is waiting!!

The approach to GOD doesn't sound that bad: 8 miles of trail and then a few more cross-country? Surely nothing could be as bad as getting suspended in midair by evil bushes while scrambling back from CRS...

The aproch to GOD is pretty straight forward, Use the packers to haul your stuff to grizzly lake.... thats day 1, day 2 pretty easy stroll over the pass, with a 3rd class ascent of Mt. Harrington to boot.
Day 2 can end with some climbing if you stay to the right side of the GOD. All the cool towers located down the right side are like 5.8 by easest way... lots of great potental to do more FA's

There is water, in the creek, all year.... its a big creek.

The place is one of the most stunning places I have ever been in the Sierra, almost compleatly untouched by people. Some untoutched Native American religious artifacts man be found if you poke around.

We found it best to go in the fall, the cooler temps and lack of daly T-storms made for a better time.

With light packs.... no food, you can hike all the way out in a day. We stashed a 6 pack back around the lake, 3 beers make a great lunch after a week out.

Kris and I have both been sort of injured the last few years.... I want to go back ASAP.

I always remember reading about that route in an old AAJ. Way to mine some gold from an old obscurity.

If you need a tip for nice looking objective for your next adventure, check out the N Face of Mt. Cotter. Has an old Galen Rowell route up it but nothing else. Always meant to get back to that, but where does the time go? Oh wait, my family and job steal it all. Anyways, you heard it here first.

Fat Dad, I wish I knew which dihedral their route took. There are two dihedrals there, left of the big face proper. One looked like a dirty chimney, and the other looked like a fairly ok crack with giant roofs blocking the upper section. If I get bored sometime and feel like loosing gear, I might give the second dihedral a try. In any case, those top out several hundred feet of terrible talus field below the summit. Our line went straight to the top. That was really cool, love it when climbs end on the summit proper.
PS: Someone who climbs 5.13 should attempt the proper face too. Seems like really hard, crack-less climbing with giant roofs above. But could possibly go for someone incredibly skilled.

rwedgee, some 16.0 megapixel Nikon. Will let you know the model tonight when I get home. Got it for 100$ online. I damage cameras fast, so usually get cheap ones.

Thank you for that superb trip report, Vitaly. The Northwest face of Clarence King has a route rated IV, 5.7, put up in the early 1970's, but it does a lot of diagonal climbing (up and right), and I've always felt harder, more direct routes were possible. Its relative difficulty of approach and location away from the beaten path probably leaves much to do there.

I was able to dig up a shot from the summit looking west at that variegated dome that is just to the east of the gray dome. So, I guess we were 2 domes to the east of the gray dome. There were some other photos, but I'm way too disorganized to find them, I'm sorry. I don't think we have scanning abilities here either. That South-East Arete of yours looks proud! I would have wanted a small bolt kit in reserve, too.

Alina, according to the all-knowing-internet: "A spotted skunk has larger carnassial teeth than other skunks. These are used to slice through an animal's flesh." Amazing really, that Vitaliy bravely managed to snap a photo without being viciously taken down by the adorable little predator!

No bolts, no pins, no beta, ground up, in a day, to the summit, deep in the backcountry. That's just proud.

You two are more inspiring to me than reading about the latest top-down, mini-trax'd, rap-bolted 5.12 and 5.13 lines being put up. Not taking anything from those efforts, but to me there is something so right about a ground-up effort with no holes. Can't always go down that way, but when it does... It's righteous.

It is the style I enjoy the most, but I'd be pretty stoked if I can put up a rap bolted 5.12 by the end of this year. And I don't think I would be better or worse if I placed a bolt on this climb. Not like it would be a sore in the eye for everyone on the Rae Lakes loop. But in any case there is something to going in far and finding an aesthetic, natural line. Good or bad but I have trouble with v4s in the gym. Many things to improve.

flip flop, maybe! That area sounds awesome. Sent an email to guyman, wonder if he got it...

Rincon, you can see our line really well. We took a line from the bottom of the canyon (4 pitches) to a ledge with trees. Than we took the prominent arete (sun/shade line) that is facing the camera. 6 more pitches with about 400 feet of simul climbing on the last pitch. Tops out on the true summit. I will make a report for my own record and draw the line in. Super excited about this one. The Sphinx overlooks Kings Canyon like a boss. No wonder Beckey climbed that thing as soon as he saw it.

C_Man, I created a mountainproject page for the route. It is not hard to follow, stays close to the arete (mostly on the crest or just right of it) and goes up prominent features. Will create a topo for it too at some point, but I never tried to make one. i guess I should try. You are welcome to email me with any questions! Really good route in an amazing spot. Worth climbing IMHO. xxvitaliyxx@yahoo.com

Beckey may have put a route on Castledome back in the late 60s if I didn't cramp his style. I had just bought a pair of big crazy mountain boots at Westridge called La Faulkes or something - they had these big stretchy rubber flaps that covered the laces. Anyway, I tried to hike in to the Domes with Beckey with these new un-broken in boots. It did not work out. We didn't get close enough to get a taste for any of it, and at least I never went back. I went back in there a few years later to climb the North Ridge of Clarence King with Mark Rodell but that's about it. Great post Vitality - it was good to finally get to climb a route in the Domes, been on my list a long time!

Ihateplastic, the rib wasn't super featured, didn't look very protectable. One of the gullies must be Silmarillion. And the other one could be a new route maybe! :)
Someone should go climb it and report back, would love to hear about it.

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